Today, my blog is on a different perspective- Spirituality. It is about sensing the "PEACE" within ourselves!

Here is my short poem on "PEACE"

I shed my outer LAYERS by LAYER

These layers are none other than IGNORANCE AND FEAR

Often manifested as a SHEDDING OF TEARS!

To hold on to one and only-ETERNAL

Who is most DEAR

My outer accumulation has now fallen off as a PIECE

So, the biggest gift now is my inner PEACE

Now, when I have to leave this LIFE

There is NO STRIFE

I hold on to this ETERNAL PEACE, PEACE, and PEACE

-Bipasha B

April 21st, 2023

 Why does current Indian science stay stunt?

Indian science has a rich heritage when wisdom, knowledge, and education were governed in a systematic way, mostly in the temples. During such an era, everyone was blessed with wisdom.

Then, came the medieval age or the dark era full of wars and mass destruction. People started struggling for existence with diseases, epidemics and egoistic rulers. The wisdom and knowledge of the common man suffered severely. Women exploitation reached the pinnacle. After that, with the advent of the 20th century, again a few people came forward to bring back life to the lost wisdom. We aptly call them the Indian scientists of modern era.

Here is my message to all my Indian brothers and sisters,

You are lucky to have been born in India or to Indian parents

You carry with you the concept of stability of soul and inner wisdom

Just you need to strive hard to know a little bit about yourself so that you are in sync with your inner wisdom

Then, any career or profession you choose

Will be happy to receive the bountiful gifts of your service!

Jai Hind!

Working from home or working in the lab or office!

 Working from home is the need of the current year due to the global pandemic. It's so amazing that the concept of "Work from home" had been in place only for some of the strata of people such as new mothers of people who have recovered from a recent illness. However, the "Work from home" has been given as a first choice to most of the people, in order to, be more responsible in fighting the pandemic. 

Modern technologies have been developed for supporting "Work from home" such as various options of online video meetings, online classes, and so forth. So, there is no need for meeting people personally when online meetings are so handy. 

Secondly, if one works in a research laboratory, is it feasible to work from home. Well, it all depends on the kind of laboratory. If it is a wet laboratory, where a lot of experiments are to be run, the laboratory can strategically plan for having batches of people running their respective experiments. Moreover, one does not need to spend hours together in the laboratory. Experimental planning, data analysis, and associated work can always be managed with "work from home" mode. Hence, out of spending around 10-12 hours in a biology research laboratory, one can easily cut short that timing by one third to save oneself and their people from the perils of the ongoing pandemic.

The best advantage of the "work from home" mode is the opportunity to be with oneself and one's family. This helps one to concentrate energies instead of dissipating them for fruitful results, the better ideas.

Finally, the new pandemic has given a new perspective to all of us. Once we are able to harness this perspective in the right way, creativity and output can be tremendous. Also, the overall satisfaction in a researcher's life also can be attained.

The health of an organisation is evident from the kind of work the employees are loaded on with..................

Are you a part of a company, or an academic organization? Wherever you work, the health of the organization is most evident from the work-loads being poured on you by your superior.

The fundamental question is ARE YOU GIVEN A JOB THAT IS UPTO YOUR CAPABILITIES OF MUCH BELOW YOUR CAPABILITIES ???

 To understand this statement, I will cite some simple examples:

1. Example 1: You work in a company having Cell Therapy products, and you happen to be a biomedical engineer with experience with upscaling cell therapy products. Now, you are being loaded with huge volumes of work in noting down the temperature of c-GMP and other basic parameters. Or else, you are asked to make tons of documents which leads you nowhere or connects you to your career goal. Definitely, your organization is stinking and the authority has no idea what they should do for making cell therapy products.
2. Example 2: You work in an academic research institute having earned your Ph.D., post-doctoral from top-notch International laboratories. Now, your current boss is asking you to write documents such as how to write a log-book, how to mop the floor of a cell culture laboratory. Definitely, the work which is being loaded onto you does not connect you to your higher career or learning goals. Hence, the organization you are working for is stinking.

Finally, it is the leadership that matters. Definitely, it is important to keep the premises of the workplace clean and in an orderly fashion, but, at what cost? If your current organization does not encourage you to invest your time in learning and then delivering based on your knowledge, then, the organization is running just to satisfy the ego of the so-called leaders.

If I were a leader, my first commitment will be to invest in the knowledge building of my employees so that they can deliver more. Say for example, if I am committed to producing excellent stem cell culture experts, it goes unsaid that they will keep the premises of the stem cell culture laboratories clean. For cleanliness, I do not have to enforce this as a separate task.

As the bottom line, we, as leaders should be committed to the genuine knowledge of our teammates and motivate them to deliver based on their knowledge.

PhD (Allied Health Sciences) in the field of Stem Cell Biology at Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Centre, Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya University, Mangalore)

In the field of “Stem Cell Biology” the research group of Dr(s) Bipasha Bose and Sudheer Shenoy P (Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Centre), Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya University, Mangalore, India offers the following JRF/Ph.D. projects:

1. Evaluation for the existence of CD34⁺/CD45^- stem cells in all three germ layers and the use of cells for cell therapy applications in mouse models of muscular dystrophy
2. Pure populations of Ocular stem cells and their molecular responses and salvage from  chemicals and UV radiation induced damages
3. Differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic β islets using bioactive lipids
4. Breast and colon cancer stem cell therapeutics

Description:

From the perspective of cell therapy and understanding the basic biology of adult stem cells and cancer stem cells, these projects aim to establish the basic molecular mechanisms for adding to the broad knowledge database. The Principal Investigators of these projects have extensive training from various international laboratories and have proven track record of their research. Prior publication of the PIs can be found at

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bipasha_Bose

The details about the “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Centre” is available on https://yenepoya.res.in/stem-cells-and-tissue-engineering/

Various techniques that these projects will utilize for addressing the pertinent questions involve culturing of stem cells, MTT assay, fluorescence activated cell sorting of  stem cells, analytical flow cytometry, qRT-PCR gene expression analysis, western blotting, mouse models of muscular dystrophy and cell transplantation.

We offer

• The opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects using the state-of-the-art technology in the centre in a highly motivated research team
• A stimulating, diverse research environment of international standards
• Advanced training opportunities

• Research funding for carrying out the projects
• Hostel facilities for the students

Required qualifications

Essential

• Masters in any field on Biological Sciences with 60% aggregate
• Motivation to solve complex biological problems and inquisitiveness to do science
• Independent worker, as well as, a good team player
• Excellent communication skills in written and spoken English
• Skills in any one technique used in biology (cell culture/ qRT-PCR, Western blot, small animal handling, flow cytometry)

Desirable

• Skills in cell culture techniques, flow cytometry,  qRT-PCR, Western blot, and small animal handling
• Prior experience in working in any research laboratory
• CSIR-NET/DBT-NET/GATE qualifications

Starting date: 1 November 2019 or later till filled

The University also has an option for research fellowship; however, we encourage students who have already qualified the National Level tests such as CSIR/DBT-NET or GATE. The University stipend is for 3 years with a possibility of extension depending on the justification for the extension request. The candidate will be provided ample support to apply for various senior research fellowship schemes under Government of India upon completion of 2 years of research experience with publications.

How to apply:

Please email with the subject line “Application for JRF/PhD position in the “Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Centre-Project No-XXX (any one of the four listed projects” with your CV and letter of intent to 

boseshenoystemcell@gmail.com

Bipasha.bose@yenepoya.edu.in, Bipasha.bose@gmail.com

shenoy@yenepoya.edu.in

Top of Form

Scientists tend to remain secluded because they mostly delete the people from their lives who do not buy their dreams and joy

Scientists are crazy!!! People say that scientists are very secluded and elusive. In fact, it is a matter of sheer focus and not diffused thoughts that high-quality scientists strive for. Concretised thoughts materialize into some great findings, and hence, it becomes extremely important for "this class of people", in other words, true scientists to stay secluded/elusive.

Scientists live for inner joy or rather in search of inner joy for finding the unknown. Hence, the best way to excel as a true scientist is to:

Delete the people who steal your joy

Either you can be with the people who steal your joy and do not buy your dreams or lead a world-class life in science-YOU CANNOT DO BOTH

In society, there are people who are there to steal our joy because they do not believe in your dreams and are too scared. It is up to us to stay attached to such people (howsoever close they are to us by blood relation or even in marriage) or to detach from them, see them less often and do not let them diminish your power. Do not let others take away your power to be innovative and to do good science.

This is how we can make a list and control our behavior towards them to protect us from such energy vampires.

Sr No	People who are elevating my joy	Comments	People who diminish my joy	Comments

  

Comparison with others is a thief of joy. It is always good for a scientist to remind herself/himself that, one cannot compare apples with oranges. 

Hence, do not allow anybody to compare you with someone else.

1.                  Peruse your dreams.

2.                  Do not bother to follow the crowd. People might call you freak, weird.

3.                  Be yourself.

4.                  How far you have traveled in terms of your learning, good health, loving and trustworthy relationships with your peers in science, inner growth, and spirituality are the most important.

Finally, the EGO is the voice of your fear.  Never, fear to explore the unknown and have an open mind and heart for continued learning.

  

Influencing to change the course of your mentees

Being a good communicator as a mentor, and believing that the scientific world needs to be continued in a better fashion then it is high time to build that conviction. When mentors operate at the optimal/maximal potential and are egoistic, the science they do revolves around then, starts with them, persists with them and ends with them. On the other hand, visionary and legendary mentors always think, believe and perpetuate with them the legacy building strategy. For example, there is a scenario where there is this person ‘A’ who has passed with excellent grades in school, graduation, post graduation, Ph.D., postdoctoral and has published excellent papers and becomes a mentor. ‘A’ then starts mentoring Ph.D. students who are brilliant and excellent. Only brilliant/intelligent and excellent students who have secured great grades get attracted to the mentor ‘A’ for having a great track record. However, the person ‘A’ remains in his bubble of ego starts getting terrified with the performance of his students. Hence, in the long run, both the mentor and the mentee fail to perform well in science. The performance of this high achiever and his/her group gets compromised not because of their lack of intelligence, but because of lack of transparency, trust and a sense of professional insecurity.

 Now, there is another scenario. There is this person ‘B’ who got good grades throughout the career (school, graduation, Ph.D., postdoctoral), but did not do excellent. ‘B’ goes on to mentor Ph.D. students and gets good, average, and some below average students. The focus of ‘B’ is continued progress with a little winning strategy each day. ‘B’ believes in team-building as 1+1, just not two but eleven. ‘B’ works harder in a disciplined manner every day, trusts his group members, and coaches them to do good science. As a result, the team of ‘B’ focuses on developing science, is more relaxed, confident, energetic with small daily improvements. Long run brings more success to the team of the mentor ‘B’ and not ‘A.’

The bottom line: You might be brilliant with exceptional analytical skills. However, most of the times, if you (whether a mentor or a mentee) do not work to strip off the respective egos, then, the brain gets hijacked, and the performance goes down.

Situations governing good performance in Science 

Mentors guide you from being unclear to clear

Clarity is about deconstructing the emotional clutter.

We come across other people who are very confused and complaining about wrong things happening or else, a sense of stuck-up attitude in their career. If it is the case with any of you, who are reading my blog right now, then it is high time to find a right mentor who will declutter your inner core.

In the path of career, a person is influenced by various forces such as parental programming, friends, peers, societal pressure so on and so forth. Often, we come across people who will go and ask anybody and everybody regarding their opinion which career path to choose. This process of looking for help outside you, most of the times take the focus off from one's own self.  Finally, the person is gone with the wind and ends up in taking up a career that has been impressed upon more by anybody close to him/her at that point of time.  Or sometimes, an individual ends up with choosing the career whimsically. Hence, in the end, the individual is cluttered and confused, isn't it?!! However, the person continues to carry on with the career without even understanding his/her liking and competence for the same.

Now, coming to an activity which one person loves doing as a hobby apart from his/her career. In fact, in many instances, such hobbies are being undertaken with a lot of enthusiasm and competence. So, here is a clear indication that the main career and the hobby should actually be flipped. In other words, the hobby ought to be the primary career for the individual and vice versa. It is, in fact, straightforward to get identified what you are meant for from right from your true mentor.

Now coming to the title of this blog-"Mentors guide you from being unclear to clear in your career”. Who are such mentors? How do we find such mentors?

So, here is the answer

What attributes are looked for while selecting a candidate for a PhD position in Science and why?

Primary education and higher education are the classifications. Well, while we talk about Ph.D. definitely, it comes under higher education because not everyone and anyone are interested, or, in other words, is capable of doing it. Is Ph.D. just an education leading to an academic degree or it is more than that? First of all, I will try enlightening the people from small places without much exposure to the degree Ph.D. It is a doctoral degree having the full form “Doctor of Philosophy” or “Doctor Philosophiae” in Latin. This terminology is irrespective of the specialization-Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine, Commerce, Law, Humanities. If you have a bit of curiosity and common-sense, you should be able to understand why this degree is called the “Doctor of Philosophy”? This is because it is more than just an academic degree in which the bookish knowledge, specific course curriculum and passing the exams and getting good grades does not count much. In fact, there is no particular course curriculum for a Ph.D. degree except for the Ph.D. course-work in the early part of Ph.D. that makes you acquainted with the recent advances in the field. It is your novel work in the area that takes somewhere from 3 to sometimes even 9 years renders you eligible for a Ph.D. degree. After the completion of your work, you need to publish the same in the form of your Ph.D. thesis, and also manuscripts in journals of international repute.

It is hence, crucial for the candidates aspiring for a Ph.D. position to be aware of the things mentioned above. Once you are aware, you will try doing your homework by first understanding yourself whether your inner voice drives you to do Ph.D. and then collecting information/data on how to go about enrolling for your Ph.D. Before registering for a Ph.D. degree, there are often stringent selection criteria. In this blog, I am highlighting the requirements that make a Master’s/ or else Honors-Bachelor’s degree holder enroll in a Ph.D. position in Science.

This goes without saying that one needs to have all eligibilities such as should have secured moderately good grades in their previous degree. Many of the places, Ph.D. aspirants also need to qualify the entrance examinations to be eligible for Ph.D. coursework followed by taking of qualifying examination proving the initiation of their research topic. The trick is once you clear the qualifying exam, or else are directly called for an interview, the respective research institutes look for various attributes. Such attributes include one’s curiosity and energy to understand new out of the box research questions. Often, it means the formulation of smart research questions. For this attribute, the research institutions look forward to a curious bent of mind that is able to think “out of the box.” “Out of the box” thinking is not a vague term, but if one exercises his/her mind, various research questions will flow. The second attribute is skill-sets to do the specific experiments. Many people join their Ph.D. research after being trained in the particular skill sets. However, other gets themselves trained only during the first couple of years of Ph.D. either from their peers and colleagues or from their superiors. Indeed, the most important thing that is being looked from a Ph.D. aspirant is their grit and determination to carry them through the entire Ph.D. process. The Ph.D. process is very rosy in the beginning when your supervisor and you decide the Ph.D. topic, messy in the middle when you are already finished with your Ph.D. questions, and also some training, but not sure whether your experiments are heading in the right direction. This is the most challenging phase of your Ph.D. Most of the Ph.D. researchers tend to blame their supervisors, Ph.D. topic, the institute, the lab environment, etc during this messy period of their PhDs. This phase of Ph.D. will actually decide whether you will come up with excellent work, mediocre work or else end up being a Ph.D. drop out. The Ph.D. researchers who find everyday excitement by turning their failed experiments into new directions come out with outstanding Ph.D. work. Of course, some mediocre researchers somehow manage to pull through the messy phase of their Ph.D. and draw some conclusions out of their failed experiments and end up with some quick results.

Most importantly, in Ph.D. work, it can be either excellent or mediocre; there is no scope of a poor Ph.D. work. Poor Ph.D. work does not lead to a Ph.D. thesis, and hence such people are drop-outs. Finally, in the end, one comes out with gorgeous and clear answers to the Ph.D. questions, and that makes your Ph.D. thesis.

Summarizing,

A Ph.D. aspirant:

1.    Needs to understand that Ph.D. is just not an academic degree through classroom teaching like Master and Bachelor.

2.    Needs to have a lot of genuine curiosity for the subject.

3.    Needs to have grit, patience, and discipline to pull through the tough times of Ph.D.

4.    Needs to burn the midnight oil for experiments when their friends/peers in regular jobs are enjoying the time.

5.    Needs to understand that Ph.D. work is not meant for attaining prestige or a high position in society.

6.    Needs to realize that earning money cannot be directly linked to the Ph.D. degree.

Finally, that is the reason the degree is known as the “Doctor in Philosophy” irrespective of the specialization.

Under my research mentorship, there are research fellow positions available

Research Fellow posts vacant in the SERB-DST funded project in “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Division” in the Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangalore-575018, Karnataka, India

We are looking for committed candidates for Research fellow position(s) who are interested in enrolling for their PhDs in the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Division, Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangalore-575018, Karnataka, India

Name of the Position(s): Research Fellow that can lead to a PhD

Number of posts- 02, Out of which one is funded by DST-SERB and for the other post-CSIR/UGC/DBT-JRF-NET qualified candidates with their own fellowship to need to apply

Title of the project: “Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into functional β islets using bioactive lipids.’’

The brief description of the project: This project aims at developing efficient methods for in vitro generation of pancreatic β islets for stem cell transplantation based therapeutics for diabetics. The scope of this project is only in-vitro generation/differentiation of pancreatic β islets from human pluripotent (embryonic or induced pluripotent) stem cells. The underlying work of the Principal Investigator Dr. Bipasha Bose can be available on the links https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22897387; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24559920

Duration: 3 years

Monthly fellowship: INR 28,000 per month (consolidated). Own fellowship for the CSIR/DBT/UGC-NET qualified candidates

Infrastructural and research support: The institute has excellent infrastructure to support this project. The funding for consumables will be primarily from the SERB-DST funded project above, and partly salvaged from the other grants (extramural and intramural) of the Principal Investigator

Tenure: This position is purely temporary and is co-terminus with the project. However, the research fellows will be required/encouraged/allowed to register for her/his Ph.D. work in this/allied projects in the Yenepoya (Deemed to be University). Extension without fellowship can be offered to the research fellows with due considerations for the completion of the Ph.D. work

Essential qualifications: Master degree in any branch of biological sciences with a minimum of 55% marks. Candidates who have qualified any National Level eligibility test such as CSIR/DBT/UGC-NET will be preferred. Also, candidates who have prior experience of working in a research laboratory with a minimum of 2 years of hands-on research experience with mammalian cell culture, flow cytometry and any of the molecular biology techniques need to apply. Ability to work independently, and as a team player; candidates with emotional grit and with research publication(s) will be given preference. An excellent written and verbal communication skill in English is essential.

Work requirements: This project requires working in the cell culture and molecular biology laboratory for long hours. This work also requires working during the weekends for a few hours for attending to the cell cultures

CANDIDATES WHO ARE COMMITTED TO RESEARCH AND THOSE WHO WILL ENROL THEMSELVES FOR A Ph.D. POSITION ONLY NEED TO APPLY

How to apply: Interested candidates may submit their detailed CV with the subject line “Research Fellow position in DST project” to the PI: Dr. Bipasha Bose, Associate Professor., Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) via email to Bipasha.bose@yenepoya.edu.in, boseshenoystemcell@gmail.com on or before 26 Jan 2019. The interview will be conducted in the first week of February 2019

Hostel facilities are available with the institute

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified